Halfway through, who are the Steelers MVPs?
Following a week off, the Steelers are ready to prepare for the second half of their 2017 season. Having played exactly half of their games before the break, eight more games remain on Pittsburgh’s regular season slate, as the team rests atop of the AFC North with a 6-2 record.
To date, who are the MVPs responsible for the Steelers success?
We took a stab at selecting those players we felt deserve recognition through the first eight games of the regular season.
Offensive MVP
Antonio Brown has been the most consistent contributor on this side of the ball. He had some down weeks but he’s more or less the reason why Pittsburgh beat Cleveland.
It took Le’Veon Bell close to four whole games to get into football shape, while AB leads the league in receptions and receiving after nine weeks… and has only played eight games.
Hands down, it’s Brown eight games in. I can’t even consider Ben Roethlisberger or anyone else on the offense at this point of the season.
Defensive MVP
Ryan Shazier and T.J. Watt are balling out, and Cam Heyward has been a monster up front. This is one of the toughest picks so far, and since it wouldn’t be right to pick the same player for two awards, the nod goes to Shazier.
We’ve finally seen what the fourth-year linebacker can do when has finally remained healthy. With the exception of a snap or two for breathers, Shazier hasn’t left the field the entire 2017 season. That’s allowed him to make some incredible splash plays, including two interception, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, seven passes defensed, and a team-leading fifty tackles.
Shazier flies around the field, and though he’s been denied a sack thus far, we can almost personally guarantee he’ll get a few before the end of December.
Rookie of the Year
Talk about drafting impact players.
Sorry JuJu fans, while we too love Smith-Schuster, the first half of the season’s rookie aware goes to T.J. Watt, who has not only made us forget about Jarvis Jones but has also made us forget about James Harrison.
Blasphemy you say?
Watt has four sacks in eight games, good enough for a tie for second on the team. His 21 tackles are fourth, while he’s knocked away four passes and produced an interception.
That’s very Harrison-like for a first-year guy that many thought was drafted only on (last) name recognition.
Smith-Schuster could gain ground over the next eight games with another big performance like his last game in Detroit. However, for now, he only had more than three catches and/or fifty receiving yards in one other game to date. Therefore the rookie honors halfway through are Watt’s for the taking.
Biggest Addition
Mike Hilton is the biggest addition of the 2017 season, for seemingly changing the entire attitude of the secondary.
Joe Haden has been wonderful but I have noticed Mike more on splash plays. He always flies to the ball and is a sure tackler at his tiny size.
Hilton has mad swag too and an incredible story. Regardless, his presence has been made as the nickel corner the Steelers have been lacking for years.
